Little Joe and the Bull
by flabirder
Summary: I wrote this for a challenge on Bonanza Boomers. The challenge was to write a short story between 900 & 1100 words about how the Cartwrights acquired an item on display in or on the house. January's prompt was the steer horns over the fireplace.


**Little Joe and the Bull**

Little Joe was missing again. The four old was an escape artist and was proud of himself for having managed to avoid being detected by both his mother and Hop Sing as he snuck out the kitchen door. They had been in the great room discussing a party Ben was going to have to celebrate Adam's sixteenth birthday and upcoming school graduation. Adam's birthday had been several months earlier, but the snow had been too deep and the weather too cold for a party.

Joe was supposed to be napping while Marie and Hop Sing discussed the party but he had other plans. He crept down the stairs and into the kitchen where he made his escape. His brothers were in school and his father was out with the hands checking the cattle so it would be a while before he was found. The boy was fascinated by the big bull in a pasture by itself and made a beeline for that pasture. Longhorns weren't common in Nevada but Ben had bought it hoping to improve his herd.

Hop Sing and Marie finished their discussion and she went upstairs to wake her son. At first, when she found his bed empty, she thought he was playing hide and seek, so she looked under his bed and in his wardrobe. Failing to find him, she called, "Hop Sing, Joseph is missing. Please help me look for him." Hop Sing muttered something in Chinese and went upstairs to help search. He and Marie searched all of the bedrooms, the attic and the storage area under the stairs. Marie went to look in the barn while Hop Sing went to the bunkhouse to see if the boy was in there.

The only person in the bunkhouse was Dan who was laid up with a broken leg. "No Hop Sing, I haven't seen the boy but give me a minute to get steady on my crutches and I'll help you look."

While everyone was searching for him, Joe was in the pasture with the bull. Since Joe was so small, the bull didn't mind the boy being in the pasture and even allowed him to climb on his back when he was laying down. Of course, Ben had different ideas about his youngest son being in the pasture with the bull and had punished the boy for it several times, but Joe didn't care. He loved that bull and wanted to be with him. Joe walked up to the bull and hugged him. The odd pair walked around the pasture for a while, when the bull lay down so Joe could climb up on it's back. The animal stood up and walked around some more, trying to catch the scent of some nearby heifers who were almost ready to be bred. The bull eventually decided to lay down in the shade of some trees and Joe fell asleep on his back.

Meanwhile, Marie was frantic with worry. Every place a young child could hide was searched. Hop Sing had even climbed into the hayloft and the loft above the tack room but Joe was nowhere to be found. When Ben returned home, he found his wife on the settee, crying and frantic with worry. "Joseph has disappeared. He was supposed to be napping while Hop Sing and I were planning Adam's party. When I went upstairs to wake him, he was not in his bed. Hop Sing, Dan and I have searched every place we thought he could be hiding but have been unable to find him. All of the bedrooms, the bunkhouse, barn, store house, and tack room have been searched but Little Joe is not in any of those places. I am afraid he has gone to the pond and has climbed up in the tree house. He is so small, if he falls out of it, he could be killed."

Ben hugged Marie. "Give me a minute to drink a little bit of coffee and then I will go and look for him at the pond. Adam and Hoss should be home shortly and I am certain that they will also help look for their brother. I know that you do not want me spanking him, but he must be punished. Both you and I have told him many times that he must not leave the house alone. Now he has run off again and needs to learn a lesson. I hope and pray I find him safe at the pond. When the boys return home, tell Adam to take a rifle with him. I saw cougar tracks on my way home and don't want him or Hoss unable to protect themselves and Joe if they find him."

When Adam and Hoss arrived at the house, Marie told them about Joe disappearing. Adam took a rifle and extra shells and he and Hoss rode out to search for their brother. "Little Joe loves the horses," said Hoss. "Let's look there first." They rode out to the corral where the unbroken horses were but Joe wasn't there. All of a sudden, it dawned on them exactly where their brother was. They looked at each other, exclaimed, "The bull!" and rode off for the bull's pasture as fast as they could. They reached the pasture just in time to see a cougar leap out of a tree onto the sleeping boy and bull.

The bull stood up, knocking Joe to the ground and began to defend himself against the big cat. The battle raged for what seemed like an eternity, with Little Joe unconscious on the ground nearby. Adam had his rifle ready, but was unable to get a clear shot at the cat without risking hitting the bull or Joe who had come to and was wandering around near the bull. The battle finally ended when the bull managed to get the cat with one of his horns and threw it across the pasture, killing it. Ben rode up just in time to see the bull kill the cat and rushed into the pasture to retrieve his small son. Finding the boy unhurt, he gave him a hard swat and checked the bull's injuries. The bull's injuries were minor and he sired many calves before he died. Ben took Joe home and to the boy's surprise, Marie spanked him but Joe kept going back to the bull's pasture whenever he could. Years later, when the bull died, Ben mounted his horns above the fireplace as a reminder of the day the animal had saved his youngest son's life.


End file.
